Do teachers still write the 'naughty' children's names on the board?

[Reastie]

I remember this happening when I was at school. there would be a list on the board with the names of children when they were disruptive like a 'naughty list'. I thought this had finished years ago. I'm looking at potential primary schools for DS and one of the schools I had thought otherwise looked good use this as a first defence sanction. They don't call it a naughty list, it's called something like 'name on the mountain' where I presume there's some kind of mountain on the wall where they add children's names as they might disrupt the class.

I'm sure I remember in my teacher training that this had been got rid of as the children with their names on there could be doing it for attention and would like the attention of having their name on the wall, even if it was for something negative they have done. I've never seen it done myself my any colleagues. Is this a red flag or am I overthinking?

No it's not the done thing these days. Definitely not using naughty for children who aren't showing appropriate behaviour.

My husband is a teacher, he told me off when we first had children for saying "you're naughty" he said you don't say that, their behaviour is naughty not the child. I said it's the same thing, he said it absolutely isn't. An outdated thing to say nevermind writing names on a board.

Sure, if they have been spoken to and warned that, say, they will lose 5 mins of playtime, I will write their name on the board. So I remember.

I also write names on the board if someone has a dentist appt and needs to leave early, or wanted an extra homework sheet printed, or has something cool they want to share with the class. There are lots of children's names on the board on any given day!

My name was forever on the naughty list on the white board at school. It was called the 'checking in' list, can't remember why or what happened if you were on it.

I think that can be a problem. At my DCs junior school you have your name put on the board for warnings - 3 warnings and you miss your break, it’s a school wide thing. My nephew also goes to this school, he has quite tricky behavioural issues and is doing so much better there than he did at the infant’s school previously. It’s amazing what a difference being made aware of your behaviour can make (rather than ‘leading your own learning’ - going to play lego - when you can’t be arsed to do what the teacher tells you). My DCs always enjoyed school, but DD has commented that kids mess around a lot less at the junior school and it’s easier to listen to the teacher! It’s a bit of a culture shock to start with at the beginning of Year 3 - I though SIL would kick up a fuss about the strictness, the name on board kind of stuff - but she’s actually really pleased with the support and structure the behaviour policy has given and the difference it’s made to DN. I imagine this sort of thing can be done badly, I guess that’s why it seems outdated and gets a bad rap but when done well, in a school with difficult behaviour (and a free for all infant feeder school - all well and good when dealing with 4 - 7 year olds, not great when they reach 8 - 11) it makes a very positive difference. I can’t knock it.

DSs school so this. He's in yr 1

We have a traffic lights board. They all start the day on green, move to amber for minor misbehavior (always chance to redeem themselves and move back to green). Red is for serious or repeated bad behavior (meaning the parents are called in at the end of the day).

I worked in a (secondary) school (non-teaching role) and one of our English teachers said one of his favourite methods of discipline when someone was really twatting about was they had to go stand in the storeroom (attached to the classroom and visible from teacher's desk), put on the headphones and listen to Cilla Black.

I visited a local state primary, where my DS potentially could go. They had children's photos on various boards. I cannot remember whether it was a traffic light or something else but I felt sorry that 4 year old children got publicly shamed and labeled having their photos in baddies section.
I visited a few private primaries and have never seen anything like this.

Luckily my DS has got a place in a private school.

Attendance awards are v common, btw

Schools are under huge pressure to do stuff around improving attendance

@Rogue1001MNer
Attendance awards go to those who generally attend well. The huge challenge (snd time) is to target the poor attendees. Not Dc who have one illness but the persistent non attendees who are often from chaotic families. No child should be frozen out of getting something because they are ill.

@ReastieAll schools must publish behaviour and discipline policies. Read them. Then see if the practice in the classroom matches the policy. Look at school newsletters. Are classes praised for 100% attendance? What happens to classes with ill children? Are I’ll children resented? I’m a fan of targeted behaviour and attendance policies. Not broad brush ones. Broad brush should be ethos and aims.

Rainbow then green light, amber and red. Everyone starts on green. Quite a lot end up on the rainbow. There are some children who at times go down to amber or red but you’re always looking to put them back up. There are 30 children in the class and you need to manage behaviour. You also need to keep track of behaviour and this is simple. Assuming your child never goes off green and rainbow are you quite relaxed about bad behaviour amongst the other children? Should I ignore it? My class has some awful behaviour issues I’m attempting to manage. Attacking each other, constant disruptions, being unbelievably rude to the TA and dinner staff. A group of four or five I’m constantly monitoring and managing. Some days are ok but most are awful. I am very positive with them when I can be. If they end up on red they go to another class for a time out.
Constantly ending up on red triggers input from the SENCO and SMT. Then we attempt to figure out what’s going on.
Parents are often very stressed about it because this behaviour is happening everywhere.
Trust me you want this system in your child’s class. You want the school to be on top of this. Bad and sometimes dangerous behaviour doesn’t suddenly start when children are 14 - 15 it starts when they are much much younger. If you can’t get a handle on it when they are little then you’re in for a world of stress.

Because private school children are never naughty.
Their parents pay for them not to be.

Pretty much all the primary schools around here have some variant on the traffic light system.

I don't like it - think it's about using shame to improve behaviour. Seems a lazy and sometimes cruel option tbh.

I find it quite interesting that a few people on this thread think that the choice is betweenthis type of system or just accepting bad behaviour. We are talking about young children! They need the rules (ie what behaviour is actually expected from them) to be clear and consistently enforced. They don't need a complicated set of sanctions. Most of them want to please the adults in their lives so that's motivation enough, and those who really don't (at 4, 5, 6 years old) clearly have more complexity than moving to the red face or losing half of playtime is going to fix.

We didn't have lists of shame when I was at school.

Interested to know what you would suggest? If you have a few children who are not keen to behave for their teacher and their parents either don’t care or don’t believe they’re badly behaved. Then you’ve got the children quietly getting on who need your attention but you can’t give it because of repeated low level behaviour, shouting out, snatching, destroying games etc. What do you do?

I have a weather chart for my Early Years class and it works well. It’s quick and simple and lots of praise when everyone is on the sunshine. Behaviour is commented on by others. No need for me to be tearing my hair out!

My daughters school use traffic lights. They have some challenging behaviour. I’m all for it, I want my daughter to get the most out of school and learn without other children’s behaviour dominating her day.

People are assuming that the system is about public shame. No. Almost everything in a school classroom is public. You can't go off for a private chat with a child 10 times a day because they're disrupting learning or being unkind. But you can say "You can't kick other children under the table because it hurts them and breaks our be kind rule" and move the child down to the yellow cloud as a visual reminder. It is public because it has to be. You can then praise the child a few minutes later and say "well done for following our be kind rule by keeping your feet to yourself" and move the child up to the green cloud as a visual reminder. It is also public because it has to be.

Can these systems be used badly? I don't doubt it. I've seen staff treat kids badly with these systems and without. But I don't think the system itself is flawed.

I don't currently use such a system because I don't need to. But I wouldn't discard a school using it.

I think weather charts in Reception are far better than visible lists in y1 showing which book and a child is on, or a visible chart in y4 showing times tables progress.
If there is a child with behavioural issues then use a different system for them by all means , but something that works for 29,/30 is worth keeping.

Traffic light system too. It works and is needed. We don't have many options for sanctioning anymore.

Oh just stop it. Children used to be caned when I was at school. Bad behaviour was very rare.

Just read that these are 'lazy' methods. Do tell what you'd suggest? We have a behaviour policy in place from Reception to Year Six. It is consistent and all children know what is expected and what behaviours will move them to red. We prefer to use it for positive reinforcement so awarding those who are making good choices by moving to gold but we do use red too.

They don’t as far as I’m aware at my DC’s school (DD is in reception) but the children had sussed out who the “naughty” ones are for themselves within about a week anyway.

At my primary school we also had standing on a chair as punishment and if you swore your shoes were taken away at play time
Late 70s / early 80s

How is a behaviour chart lazy?

It seems everything a parent doesn't agree with in a school is classed as 'lazy'.

An example of it working in my class this week...

Child is talking on the carpet when they should be listening. They are warned twice and told if it happens again their name will move down the chart. They continue to talk. Their name is moved down. Child makes massive effort for the next half an hour. I go over and tell him I'm pleased with his efforts and to go and move his name back up. He does so and we have no issues for the rest of the day. Children are in school to learn. They need clear consistent boundaries. There's no screaming or shouting, just an expectation to listen and try. Obviously children with SEND have adjustments made.

I use groups in infants. So whichever group has the most smiley faces gets the trophy on their desk the next day (simple and free). They get smiley faces for the whole group being tidy or working on task and individuals earn one for the group by being caught being kind or helpful . Never take them away and never single out behavior . I don't have any behavioral issues in the class though so it's an easy one.

I teach EFL in a middle school in France. I have a ''punitions'' section on my white board. Basically if you chat in class your name goes on the board. If your name is on the board you have to copy a line of irregular verbs for next lesson. I add bars each time they chat during the lesson which adds an extra line of IV to copy. If a pupil gets to 5 bars (very rare) then they get a cross in their ''carnet'' which needs to be signed by parents (not sure what these are called in UK schools, it's a book which allows parents to communicate with teachers).
Most pupils end up with their name on the board at some point during the year. Other teachers go straight for the cross in the ''carnet'' for very chatty pupils. Overall the kids have said they prefer me doing it this way.

A couple of weeks ago in class we had to look up an irregular verb for an exercise and one of more animated kids was really excited about being able to give the answer without looking as he'd had to copy the bloody things out several times already, the others found it quite unfair that he'd learnt more than them due to his ''punitions'' 😶

Our school behaviour policy is names on the board.

I would love to know a better way?! I'm so tired of parents thinking they know better than teachers.